


The Gift of Death

by frosty600



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:03:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frosty600/pseuds/frosty600
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy makes a deal with a vampire to save Dawn's life. The only problem is that with that one agreement she had landed herself in the middle of a feud that even The Slayer might have trouble making it out alive. A feud between an Original family that's about to boil over. Set Buffy Season 5 VD Season 2 Elijah/Buffy Klaus/OC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to WhiteDwarf who gave me that extra push to attempt this fic and has practically been a co-writer for this first chapter as I was having major troubles getting this chapter started.   
> This fic is going to be a crossover between the Buffy verse and the VD verse so you all have fair warning. Alright, I think that’s all the important things I have to say so enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Vampire Diaries or any of the characters mentioned in either cannon.

A/N: This fic is dedicated to WhiteDwarf who gave me that extra push to attempt this fic and has practically been a co-writer for this first chapter as I was having major troubles getting this chapter started.   
This fic is going to be a crossover between the Buffy verse and the VD verse so you all have fair warning. Alright, I think that’s all the important things I have to say so enjoy :) 

CHAPTER 1

Willow stared at Buffy’s motionless form as she sat as she had been perched on the chair across from the one she was now occupying. It had been over an hour since Dawn had been taken by Glory and Buffy had fallen into this strange comatose state that no amount of pleading or reasoning could wake her from. 

Anya stood in the background trying her best to keep Tara quiet and occupied so as to not disturb Willow’s concentration, “So, are you going to do something to fix her already, because the staring match doesn’t seem to be working… it’s kind of weird actually watching her not blink or move at all… it’s not really human,” Anya rambled awkwardly as she tended to do when she was anxious or nervous or scared and at the moment she was all three.  
Willow tore her gaze from Buffy and focused it on Anya for a moment, “I could try a spell, but it’s risky, even more so cause I’ve never attempted anything like it before, but I don’t really see another option, nothing else has worked and I have to know…”

Anya raised a brow and simultaneously reaching for Tara, keeping her from lurching off the chair she was sitting on.   
Tara gave a little whimper, but settled back in the seat and began intertwining her fingers and twisting and pulling at them to amuse herself.  
“Know what?” Anya asked.  
“If she’s still in there,” Willow voiced reluctantly, before giving her head a shake, “Of course she’s still in there,” she murmured more determinedly. “I’ve just got to find her,”

Tara jumped slightly in her chair and looked about, her face shifting from mellow to agitated, “Its coming, the bright day, the new day. A new shining day,” she lurched clumsily out of her chair.   
Anya rose with her attempting to place her hand on the Wiccan’s shoulder only to get wacked by Tara’s arm as she flung the offending touch off, forcing the ex-vengeance demon to stumble back a couple of paces.  
Willow jumped up and hurried over to her girlfriend, “Quiet baby, it’s ok,” she hushed her, as she placed calming hands over Tara’s intertwined ones, “I’m here, it’s gonna be ok,” she soothed.

“It’s coming the bright day is coming, and it’s going to be a grand day,” Tara babbled, before raising her hands to her head and clutched her hands to the sides of her head and began to rock in place, “It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming,”  
Willow stood and gazed at Tara with helpless eyes, before rousing herself and addressing Anya who was staring with a mild curiosity at the interaction, “The pills in my bag quickly, I need uh, half a pill and a glass of water,”  
“Sure,” Anya agreed as she tore her gaze away and marched swiftly over to the table where Willow’s bag lay.

Her gaze flicked uncomfortably to the unmoving, unblinking Buffy for a brief moment before she focused once again on her task. The motionlessness of the blond Slayer that was normally so full of life disconcerting her. She quickly searched the bag and came up with the small bottle and popped the cap after a moment of struggle.   
The child safety lock giving her a moment’s pause. She shook out a couple of pills and was relieved to find one already halved. She hurried to fill a cup with water almost knocking over an expensive stone that had only just arrived in the shop the other day.

“Here,” Anya said as she held out the cup and pill to Willow.  
Willow turned and accepted the cup and medication with a nod of thanks before turning back to Tara, who was still clutching her head and rocking much to Willow’s concern, “Here, Tara baby. This will make you feel better, I promise,” she assured her.  
Tara shook her head and made a sound of distaste as she rejected the pill and water.  
“Come on baby, please,” Willow pleaded, “You have to take it. It’ll make you feel better, make the world stop spinning,” she tempted.

Tara turned her head back to her lover and opened her mouth compliantly.  
Willow sighed in relief and pressed the pill past Tara’s lips, before offering her the glass of water. Tara greedily accepted the drink swallowing down the foul tasting pill. She wrapped her hands around the glass, taking control of it as she tilted it up further.  
Not seeing the harm Willow let her.

The bell to the Magic Shop door chimed as it was opened drawing Willow and Anya’s gazes. The noise startled Tara though and she dropped the glass and let out a distressed noise as the glass shattered and water splashed over her feet and lower legs, drawing Willow’s attention away from the tall well built, expensively dressed stranger that had stepped into the shop.

“It’s ok, Tara,” Willow assured her distressed lover as she bent and swiftly waved her hands over the glass and wet area of Tara’s pants and shoes, systematically fixing the glass and drying Tara, “See all fixed,” she said brightly as she showed Tara the glass that she was now holding.

Tara clapped a bright smiled lighting up her face as she reached out, gesturing at Willow’s slender hands, “Pretty warm lights shooting from finger tips, sparking up the air,” she giggled.  
Willow smiled at her love a little sadly, before turning her attention back to the man that had entered the store, “I’m sorry, but the Magic Shops closed,” she said as politely as she could given the circumstances before shooting a glance at Anya, “Didn’t I ask you to put up the closed sign?”  
Anya shrugged, a slight frown darkening her brow at the accusatory tone in the red heads voice, “I did,”

Elijah, whose eyes after surveying the shop he had stepped into, had landed on the still figure of the petite blond who was staring into space, focused them on the red headed Witch who was staring at him with an expectant impudent gaze, clearly waiting for him to leave, “I am well aware that you are not open for business,”  
Willow frowned, not liking the way the taller man was looking down at her, like she was insignificant, but before she could speak, Anya did, a frown darkening her brow as she stared at the handsome man unabashedly.

“Then why are you here, a shop is to buy things, and if you aren’t planning on giving me… us your money then why even bother to waste my time?” Willow cleared her throat and Anya glanced over at her, “Oh right, waste our time,” she corrected herself and smiled over at Willow looking for confirmation that she had said the right thing.  
Willow resisted the urge to shake her head at the ex-vengeance demon’s mistake in the meaning of her throat clearing. Anya’s lack of manners wasn’t overly important at the moment.   
“What my friend means is,”  
“That’s exactly what I meant,” Anya cut in as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively, “Window shoppers are an annoying inconvenience, why bother wasting your valuable time being polite when they don’t intended to give you any money for your time and effort,” she explained her reasoning.

Elijah observed the interaction that under different circumstances he may have found mildly amusing, but he didn’t have time to waste on idle conversation of a rude woman and a somewhat talented witch.   
“I’m here to propose a deal to The Slayer,” He cut in before either woman could speak again, adding fuel to the smouldering coals of what he sensed was an old argument between the two.

Before either woman could formulate a response to the dark strangers serious statement; a thing that surprised them both as neither of them knew or even recognised him. The bell connected to the front door chimed again and Xander and Giles stood in the doorway. 

“Hey, any progress with the Buffster yet?” Xander asked as he stepped over the threshold, holding the door open so that the newly bandaged up Giles could enter without being hindered in anyway.  
Elijah stepped away from the entrance to give the new comers room to enter, his keen eyes taking them in. He heard a sharp gasp and immediately afterwards scented fear coming from the red headed witch and he glanced over at her to see her staring at him now with wary eyes.   
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as she shifted slightly to put herself between him and the blond that was now pulling at her hair an absent look on her face as she chewed on her lip, a bit of drool rolling down her chin.

“Although, I appreciate your fear, witch. You have nothing to fear from me. I’m not here to harm,” Elijah flicked his gaze about the odd, ragtag group that stood assembled before him, “Any of you,”  
Xander frowned, his eyes glancing over at his oldest friend, taking in how stiff she was and the very real fear in her eyes, “And we’re, what? Supposed to take you on your word?” he said sarcastically as he cautiously manoeuvred towards his friend.  
Giles moved with him, wanting to be somewhere in the room where he felt that he could contribute in some small way despite his injury.

Elijah’s lips thinned ever so slightly, the only outward sign of his irritation at the rudeness he was being addressed with, especially from a mere boy that he could squash with a mere flick of his finger, hardly his equal in power or status.   
“It doesn’t matter if you take me at my word or not, boy,” Elijah responded, “If I desire words with The Slayer then I shall have them, no matter your feelings on the matter,”

Xander bristled at the smug ‘I’m better then you’ tone, whilst Anya clutched at his arm with a tight grip.   
Willow frowned and prepared herself a possible spell already coming to mind that would help.  
Giles adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat, “Perhaps, we could keep things reasonable,” he suggested sensing or maybe he was just hoping after the events that had already transpired that night that this new comer was a reasonable sort of man.

“I wouldn’t count on that buddy. My friend here is a pretty powerful witch,” Xander cut across Giles, “So unless you want to get fried, Mister. I suggest you turn around and crawl back under whatever rock you came from, cause you’re not getting any closer to my bud, the Buff,” he concluded.  
A small somewhat amused smile curved up the corners of Elijah’s lips as he regarded the defiant, overly confident expression on the boy’s face. The confidence was belied by the fear that was clear to his in eyes.

“Your mock bravado is amusing at best, irritating at most and will do nothing to stop me,”   
“Oh, there’s nothing mocking about it, you’re not getting a step closer to Buffy,” Xander replied adamantly, before glancing over at Willow, “Right, Will,”  
Willow nodded her agreement, whilst Giles groaned quietly, his hand slipping behind his glasses to rub at his eyes, seeing all chances of a civil resolution flying out the window with Xander’s hasty words that as usual lacked all fore thought.

Anya shook his arm vigorously, “Don’t provoke him, Xander. Who’s going to give me lots of orgasms if you’re dead?” she asked in all seriousness, unwittingly embarrassing her lover for the thousandth time since they’d gotten together.  
“Anh, you remember that conversation we’ve had about things only to be said in private?” he asked, Anya nodded, “That was one of those times,”

“I would like to see you try, boy,” Elijah stated, before taking a step forward.  
Immediately Willow moved, her heart beating steadily in her chest as the familiar words of the spell slipped off her tongue with ease, her power building up around her in that wondrously familiar sensation.  
“Kali, Hera, Kronos, Tonic. Air like nectar, thick as onyx. Cassiel by your second star, hold my victim as in tar,” she finished the incantation and was filled with satisfaction when the stranger stopped in his tracks.

Elijah glanced at the almost completely invisible walls that were attempting to trap him to the spot, “Interesting,” he murmured, his tone almost bored, before he raised a hand and pressed it against the thickened air.  
Willow’s smug expression faltered as she felt the barrier give way at such a light touch, it didn’t seem possible, a goddess so easily escaping the barrier she could accept, but this guy… he wasn’t a god. It wouldn’t be fair if a second god decided to step onto the scene… they were well and truly doomed.

“Thicken!” she told the barrier she had created and felt the compressed air compact itself tighter around the man.  
Elijah studied the barrier for a moment longer. His senses feeling the barrier grow stronger in response to the red heads command. He turned returned his gaze back to the red head as he moved his hand and with a swift movement that was impossible for humans to follow with their mortal eyes, he smashed the barrier. The backlash of magic breaking the of the barrier sent back towards the witch sent her flying back into the table, a small amount of blood dribbling from her nose.

“Willow!” Xander shouted and hurried towards her, whilst Tara let out a high pitched whimper her hands coming up to cover her ears as if the breaking of the barrier had released a high pitched noise that only she could hear.  
Giles also moved swiftly to her side and hooked an arm under hers to help her back up to her feet, “Are you alright?” he asked with concern.  
“Yeah,” Willow muttered as she held a hand to her head, “I wasn’t prepared for the backlash,” she said as she steadied herself and shrugged off the helping hands.

“Perhaps now, you’ll be more willing to be cooperative?” Elijah suggested calmly as he regarded the group that was now looking at him with much more respect.  
“Just who do you think you…” Xander started with an angry scowl from his spot beside Willow.  
“Xander, do be quiet,” Giles said sharply enough to cut Xander off in his tracks, an affronted and yet sheepish look on his face at the same time as if he was trying to decide which emotion he should feel more at being shushed like he was still in high school and Giles was still the librarian.   
The look Giles gave him though was enough to keep him silent on the matter.

Giles turned his gaze to the stranger, “Perhaps we could start with your name,” he suggested calmly.  
“I am Elijah,” he replied with the same calmness, his attention focusing on the Englishman.  
Giles frowned, the name striking a dull cord in him somewhere, one he was struggling to place.  
“As I told your overzealous companion,” Elijah nodded in Willow’s direction as she dabbed at her nose with a tissue, whilst she stroked her hands over the hysteric blond’s trying to calm her, “I’m here to propose a deal to The Slayer, nothing more,” he explained.

Giles adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose once again, “And the specifics of this deal?” he prodded when the man remained silent.  
Elijah smirked, “That would be between me and The Slayer,” he responded with a casual air, but beneath it was a steal that would not bend.  
Xander crossed his arms over his chest, “And what makes you think we’ll just agree without knowing just what kind of sleazy deal your trying to palm off here,” he grumbled.

Elijah settled his gaze on the young man once again, “I don’t really see how you have much choice in the matter. I have time to waste on waiting,” he stepped over to a sofa and sat on the padded seat, “Do you?” he asked with a slight tilting of his head as he observed the group as a whole once again, patiently awaiting their answer.

Silence reigned for a long moment as they stared off, the Scoobies for the most part remaining stubbornly silent none of them really wanting to admit that Elijah was right.  
“Even if we were to agree, Buffy is in no state to talk at the moment,” Giles finally broke the silence as he resisted the urge to polish the already immaculately clean lenses of his glasses.  
Elijah’s eyes went back to the small blond that hadn’t made a peek or even blinked throughout the entire exchange, “I had noticed that she has withdrawn into herself, rather deeply,” Elijah returned his gaze to Giles, “May I enquire as to what happened?” 

Giles sighed, and shot a look in Xander’s direction as he made a disgruntled sound. A sound that warned that he was about to open his mouth and perhaps stir the situation into violence once again. Something he was rather keen to avoid.  
“We can’t be entirely sure why she’s become catatonic, it’s uh, not really like her,” Giles admitted as he reached up to touch the frame of his glasses, his brain was still attempting to place the obviously preternatural man’s name.

Elijah stood from the sofa and walked towards The Slayer, his senses picking up the added tension in the room as he moved towards the unmoving woman. He came to a stop in front of her and squatted down before her. His dark gaze unwavering as he reached out and touched a hand to her wrist, easily finding her pulse that was beating steady and strong.   
The stench of devastation clung to her. It rolled off her in waves that made his nose want to twitch.  
“Uh, nothing we’ve tried has worked so far,” Willow piped up a little anxiously as she took a couple of nervous steps towards Buffy and the intimidating, mysterious Elijah.

Elijah graced her with his gaze for a brief moment, before he lowered his gaze to the floor where the occult book that had been open on the now turned over table had fallen after Willow had crashed into it.   
He released Buffy’s wrist and reached down and picked up the book that had somehow fallen face down on the page it had been on whilst on the table. He looked the page over for a brief moment, “You haven’t got around to trying everything yet,” he observed with a murmur, his gaze returning the witch.

Willow shifted uncomfortably, before moving forward taking the book from Elijah’s lax grip, “The spell is risky,” she murmured as she looked down at the creased pages and took a couple of steps back from him, her magic sensing something it didn’t like in the man.  
“Send me in,” he murmured softly, the softness of his voice doing nothing to disguise the demand in his tone, or the fact that he clearly expected to be obeyed.  
“W-What!!” Xander spluttered indignantly, “Why would we do that? We don’t even know…”  
This time Willow cut him off, “You want me to send your conscious mind into my best friends? For all I know you could trample around all willy-nilly and cause more damage,” she said as she waved her arms around, the book coming dangerously close to hitting Elijah upside the head.

Elijah stood and Willow’s arms fell to her sides as she swallowed nervously at his imposing height, “I’ve been around long enough to know the dangers of this kind of magic,” he replied, “And the risks involved in sending in a witch that has no experience in this form of magic,” Elijah cocked his head to the side as if in consideration, “Out of the two of us, it would be you trampling around all willy-nilly,” he observed.  
Willow’s shoulder’s slumped slightly in defeat, knowing the truth behind his words, it was why she was so nervous about attempting sending herself into Buffy’s fragile mind. She could easily facture, or break something that could leave her like Tara, or worse a vegetable. 

Xander however, puffed up and took an angry step forward in defence of his oldest friend; a step that was hindered by Anya pulling on his arm trying to keep him from doing something stupid, “Hey, you watch how you talk to my friend! She could totally do,” Xander trailed off from his tirade, getting distracted by Willow as she shook her head.  
“No, he’s right, Xan,” Willow admitted, making Xander splutter wordlessly, “Why don’t you think I haven’t just done it already. The spell casting is easy, its once you’re in there that’s the tricky part,”

Xander stepped back in response to Anya’s insistent tugging, the wind going out of his sails. All his bravado wilting without the backup he had been expecting.  
Elijah smiled glad to be finally getting somewhere with the ragtag group, “So, do we have an understanding then?” he enquired.  
Willow chewed on her lower lip anxiously, “Well, I don’t know,” she mumbled, “I-We don’t know you. It’s not a little thing to trust you with, my friend’s mind,”  
“I have no intention of hurting your friend. I only desire to have words with her. You have my word,” Elijah promised with all his usual sincerity whenever those words left his mouth.

Willow hesitated a moment longer, before she looked to Giles, “What do you think?” she asked, not wanting to bear the weight of the decision alone.  
Giles sighed, he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it at all, but… “What choice do we have?” he finally replied.  
Elijah’s lips curled up again, “Indeed,” he agreed.  
“Are you guys seriously buying into this?” Xander piped up again with a dark frown, “You guys are just gonna let some guy we don’t know poke around in the Buff’s brain? She not going to like that?”

It was Willow’s turn to shoot Xander an annoyed look, the decision was hard enough without him having to make it more difficult for everyone, “I doubt she’d want to be stuck like she is either, Xander,” she snapped.  
Xander scowled and crossed his arms moodily over his chest as he plonked himself down in a chair, clearly unhappy, but resigned to that fact that his opinion was clearly not wanted at this point in time.

“Right then,” Willow said a little nervously, “Where did you want to set up?” she asked Elijah courteously.  
Elijah glanced around the shop again quickly, “The sofa chairs over there should do,” he replied, there was no telling how long it would take. It would be best if they were comfortable. Before anyone could say a peep otherwise he scooped The Slayer easily up into his arms, registering only vaguely just how light she felt in his arms as he carried her over to one of the sofas.  
“Right,” Willow muttered as she began hurrying to get set up for the spell she would have to caste over both her friend and Elijah.

*O*O*O*

Elijah sat on a sofa he had easily dragged so that he could sit across from The Slayer, the flickering light of the few candles the witch had set out in strategic places about the two of them, dancing across their faces.   
He heard her begin to chant the Latin words, words that soon faded from his ears as the spell began to take effect forcing his conscious mind out of the present and into mind of the woman that was staring at him, but not seeing him, not seeing anything except what had locked her away to begin with.

Willow lowered the book with a sigh, her gaze nervous as she looked from her friend to Elijah still wondering whether or not they had made the right choice, “It’s done,” she informed her friends.  
Giles sat down, his bandaged and stitched wound aching painfully.  
“Just so that we’re clear, if Buffy wakes up pissed, I’m the one that said no to this crazy idea,” Xander broke his sullen silence.  
“Yes, yes, we’ll make sure she knows that you were the only one of her friends that didn’t want to use every viable option to save her,” Giles replied tiredly as he rubbed his eyes again, still trying to place where he knew Elijah’s name from.

Xander lapsed into a sullen silence once again, only mediated by the presence of Anya as she sat beside him, a hand coming up to rest on his shoulder.

*O*O*O*

Elijah blinked as he was suddenly in a brightly-lit room that was filled with flowers and tasteful furniture, but otherwise empty. His keen ears picked up soft sounds coming from nearby, the sounds of a small child playing.   
He walked into another room this one with a fireplace and a picture of a woman with a baby in her arms smiling at the person behind the camera. It was warm and cozy, full of everything a family home should have. He turned away from the living room just as the voice of a young child spoke to him.

“Who are you?” she demanded to know with curiosity as she clutched a doll in her arms, her blond hair tied back into twin pigtails.  
Elijah took a step towards the child and knelt down so that they were on more level footing, “I’m Elijah. Would you be Buffy?”   
The little girl smiled up at him and nodded vigorously, “Uh-huh, that’s me. Do you know my mom and dad, is that why you’re here?” she asked.  
Elijah let a smile touch his lips, “No, I don’t know your parents. I’m actually here looking for someone. Do you think you could help me?” he asked.

The young Buffy frowned in consideration, “I’m not sure, I don’t know too many adults. Who are you looking for?” she asked curiously.  
“I’m looking for you,” Elijah replied a little cautiously.   
The young Buffy was silent for a long moment a deeper frown puckering down her brow, “Why?” she finally asked.  
“Because I need to talk to you?” Elijah answered.

The young Buffy lapsed into silence again, her young eyes turning sad, a flicker of the real woman that was buried somewhere in the vastness of her mind. “Do you like dolls?” she asked as she held out her doll for him to see.  
“I can’t say I’ve ever paid too much attention to them,” Elijah responded.  
The young Buffy shrugged, “That’s too bad, they’re fun to play with,”  
“Buffy, what are we doing here?” Elijah asked.  
The young Buffy shrugged as she hugged her doll back to her chest, “I like it here… it’s happy,” she replied as she stroked a hand over her dolls hair, “It’s a big day for me,” she informed Elijah with a smile that was half excited, half nervous.

“Why what’s happening today?” Elijah asked.  
The young Buffy looked away from him, waiting for a short moment before the door opened and another woman’s voice entered the house they were in.  
“Hello!”  
The young Buffy smiled joyfully, “Mommy, Daddy!” she called out thrusting her doll at Elijah before she ran over to the two as the adults walked into the room, “You’re back! You’re back!” 

Elijah watched the doll clutched in one of his hands as he took in the man and woman he recognised from the photos in the living room. He placed the doll down as he listened to the interaction between them, trying to pinpoint what was so important about this moment that The Slayer was stuck in it.

“Are you ready to meet your new baby sister?” The woman asked.  
The young Buffy frowned and backed away, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at the bundle in her mommy’s arms with mixed emotions.  
“Oh come on now, Buffy. She’s nothing to be afraid of,” The man assured his daughter.  
Young Buffy’s frowned deepened stubbornly, “Who’s afraid?” she challenged.  
“Don’t you want to be the big sister?” The woman asked softly a kind smile on her face as she regarded her eldest.  
Young Buffy shook her head, “No, I want to be the baby,” she replied with a pout.

“Buffy,” the man said chidingly.  
“You’re gonna pay more attention to her and forget all about me!” Young Buffy cried.  
The woman’s expression turned sad, “Ooh,” she knelt down beside Buffy, the baby cooing happily in her arms.

Young Buffy comes out of the memory to look back at Elijah who was still watching, the doll still in hand, “Doesn’t she look funny? Like a wrinkly old grandpa,” she murmured, before turning back to her mommy.  
“Like this,” the woman said as she carefully placed the baby in her six year olds arms, “Ok, support the head,” she guided shifting young Buffy’s hold slightly, “There you go!” she praised, “We’re calling her Dawn,”

Young Buffy smiled down at her baby sister as she now cooed up at her, “I-I could be the one to look after her sometimes… if you need a helper,” she said hopefully whilst continuing to stare at baby Dawn, “Mom?” she asked as she looked up at her, “Can I take care of her?”  
The woman smiled brightly at her eldest and stroked a hand over her daughters head, “Yes, Buffy, you can take care of her,” she assured the young Buffy.

Elijah took in the scene with a stoic face, committing the information he had learned to memory. A noise from behind him caught his attention and he turned to look. His gaze landed on the woman that was sitting on the chair across from him in the physical realm, except she was wearing a sleeveless blouse and pale skirt, her hair hanging loosely down her back.   
She had a book in her hand as she strolled over to a bookcase that hadn’t been in the room before. She slid the book in amongst the others and paused for the briefest of moments, before she turned and walked away from the shelf. 

Elijah placed the doll down on the small white table he was standing beside and watched as this Buffy walked past him as if not even seeing him. He turned to follow her and saw another version of the woman sitting on a rock in the middle of a dessert area, a strange looking woman standing in an oddly hunched position across a blazing fire from her.  
Elijah frowned as he took in the strange scene.

“Death is your gift,” the woman with tangled hair and clothes that befit that of a hunter of a world even older than his.  
“Death is my gift?” This Buffy repeated with a frown of confusion.  
“Death is your gift,” the woman repeated in confirmation.

Elijah cocked his head slightly to the side as he processed the information. It not coming all that much of a surprise to him, The Slayer had been made to deal out death to those of his kind to protect the innocents of the world. From the look of it though, this information had come as a shocking revelation to The Slayer, one that she wasn’t too happy about.

He turned back to the first adult Buffy he had seen and frowned as he once again saw her walk over to the bookcase and shelf a book that she had already shelved previously. The pause however was longer this time and he took a cautious step towards her, his keen eyes taking in how her eyes lost focus as she got distracted by a thought.  
A movement catches Elijah’s attention and he turned towards it to see the back of another adult Buffy, this one wearing jeans and a black tank top with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Elijah followed after her, hoping that this one would talk to him or at least realize that he was there. 

He followed her to a door that was ajar, a bright light shining through the gap. Light that was unmistakably sunlight.  
This adult Buffy glanced at him briefly before entering the room.  
Elijah followed her inside and his shoes squished into grass, his eyes taking in a tombstone that was where a bed should rest in amongst the other furniture that was still placed neatly about the room. He came up to stand beside Buffy as she stared down at the headstone that read ‘Joyce Summers 1958 – 2001’, her arms crossed over her chest.

“I’m sorry, the loss of a loved one is never an easy loss to bear,” Elijah broke the silence after an extended moment.  
Buffy shook her head, but didn’t look at him again, “Don’t be. Death is my gift,”  
“I think you’ve misunderstood the meaning of it,” Elijah replied.  
Buffy frowned and slowly turned her head to look at him, “Have I?” she questioned sceptically, before she turned and walked from the room.

Elijah followed her down the hall and to another door; Buffy stepped in this time without looking at him.  
Elijah stepped in after her and saw a young girl lying on the bed asleep.  
“It’s really not that complicated of a concept,” Buffy broke the silence as she stepped towards the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She looked up at Elijah, “It’s what I do,” she informed him, “It’s what I’m here for. It’s all I am,”

Buffy looked down at Dawn’s sleeping figure again, before picking up a pillow beside Dawn and placed it over her face and applied pressure.  
Elijah watched with a frown, but did nothing to stop it as he watched the scene play itself out as the girl struggled and whimpered in protest before her body gave out and she stilled.

“Death is my gift,”

Buffy had barely finished speaking when the room shifted around Elijah and he found himself back in the first room. 

“Hi again,” Young Buffy’s voice greeted him and Elijah turned around to face her as he watched her brush her dolls hair, “Still here?”  
Elijah walked over to where she was sitting at the small child sized white table and hunched down beside her, not even willing to try to fit himself on one of the small white seats, “I still haven’t found you,”  
The young Buffy frowned, “I thought you wanted to talk to me?”  
Elijah nodded, “I do, but you’re not being very cooperative,”  
Young Buffy stopped brushing her dolls hair, “I’m talking. I think you’re just not that good at listening,”

Elijah leaned in a little closer to her, “I happen to be a very good listener,”  
“Then listen and perhaps you’ll learn something,” young Buffy scolded, “Would you like some tea?”  
Elijah leaned back in confusion.  
“Mommy says that I should always offer refreshments when I have a guest, and I suppose you qualify,”  
Elijah’s lips twitched in amusement and after a moment he nodded, despite knowing that it would be imaginary tea from a child tea set, “I enjoy tea,” he murmured, and young Buffy reached for the white tea pot in the middle of her white table.

*O*O*O*

Inside the magic shop Willow, Anya, Xander and Giles sat in silence, all of them trying their best to not watch the clock and not watch Buffy and Elijah as they sat completely still in the sofa chairs to see if there had been any movement from either of them.

The sound of the front door bell to the shop made them jump in their seats. None of them having expected the sudden noise that disturbed the eerily silent shop.  
“Well, Glory has skipped house,” Spike said as he strolled into the shop, heading for the seated group, “Found Ben’s room, but nothing to say where she’s skipped off to,” Spike paused in his stride his body stiff, the cigarette that he was holding between his fingers falling to the floor as he stared at the male sitting in the chair across from Buffy.  
“Hey watch the floor!” Giles growled and jumped up faster than he probably should with his wound to stomp it out.

“Oh Bloody Hell!” Spike growled as he shifted nervously on his feet, “What the bleedin’ hell is an Original freakin’ vampire doing in here!” he exclaimed.  
“Oh bollocks!” Giles cursed as Spike’s words gave his brain the jogging it needed to place why the name sounded so familiar, “The Originals of course!” he exclaimed.  
“Oh, that’s not good,” Anya murmured, whilst Willow and Xander looked from one to the other with confusion.

“Uh, for the laymen in the room, who or what are The Original’s?” Xander asked when no one seemed willing to start explaining on their own, as Giles paced back and forth whilst muttering to himself.  
And Spike was busy fumbling out another cigarette from his pack after the untimely death of his last one, “You want to know what they are?” Spike growled as he tried to get his lighter to spark, “There the freaking Sire’s of a separate race of freaking vampire’s,”  
“Wait… what? There’s another race of vampire’s running about out there that we didn’t know about?!” Xander exclaimed, a nervous hint to his voice. 

“That you didn’t know about,” Spike grumbled as he shot a nervous look at the still Original.  
“They are a line of vampire that comes not from demons, but from magic… witchcraft,” Giles said as he finally stopped pacing and muttering about his stupidity.  
Spike nodded his agreement, “It was something, Darla used to tell us about. Apparently Nest was almost obsessed with trying to fish them out, get at some of their powers. The Originals are the strongest of their line and practically impossible to kill. In all Old Man Bat Face’s years of searching he never discovered a single thing that could hurt them let alone kill them. They even found a way to walk in the sun without even getting red skin,” Spike shook his head as he finally took a drag from his lit fag. 

“It was, is widely believed in The Council that The Originals are nothing more than a myth. Despite limited evidence to the contrary,” Giles explained.  
“Yeah, the kind of myth that you talk big about, but never want to come face to face with one of ‘em,” Spike muttered as he took another drag.  
Xander jumped up off his chair, “Then what are we waiting for, Will, get that Original vamp out of Buffy’s mind!”

Willow shook her sadly, “I can’t,” she murmured.  
“What do you mean you can’t?!” Xander said almost loud enough to be a yell, “Just whip up a little mystic mojo and zap him back into his own brain!” Xander shouted aggregately.  
“I can’t!” Willow shouted back, her voice cracking and she forced herself to take a calming breath as she automatically reached out to sooth Tara who had grown disquieted by the loud voices, “If I was to force, Elijah out of, Buffy’s mind now. I could hurt her. It could do a lot of damage,” Willow glanced over at the two still figures, “It’s much better if they come back on their own,”

Xander deflated, “So, what we just leave him in there? Where he could be doing God knows what to her mind,” he muttered, not wanting to believe that they couldn’t do anything.  
“I don’t think that we have to worry too much,” Giles said earning disquieted looks from everyone gathered about the righted table, “I mean it’s a concern of course, but uh, all the research uh… myth says that Elijah is perhaps the most honourable out of the Original family,”  
“Yeah, well it also says that he can be the most cunning and cold when he chooses,” Spike piped up.  
“Yes, thank you for that, Spike,” Giles muttered.  
Spike shrugged, “Just saying, myth and legend not the most solid of knowledge bases,”

“Uh,” Willow spoke, a little timidly, “You said family. Just how many of these uh, Original vamps are there?”  
Spike smirked, “Well that’s the thing pet, no one can really agree on the exact number. The only people that probably do know are The Originals themselves,”

*O*O*O*

Elijah once again found himself staring down at the sleeping young brunette girl as Buffy sat on the edge of the bed looking down at her as well.  
“She’s beautiful isn’t she,” Buffy murmured sadly.  
Elijah took a step forward, “All innocents are beautiful and deserve to be protected from the evils of this world. Your sister no matter her origins deserves the same,”

Buffy frowned and glanced warily at the strange man called Elijah for the first time, wondering for a moment how he knew that, before returning her gaze to Dawn and reaching for the pillow needing to play out the scene.  
Elijah cocked his head, “Why are you killing her?”  
“It’s what I do,” Buffy responded as she placed the pillow over Dawn’s face and the girl began to struggle and whimper all over again.  
Elijah frowned, “You’re sister is still alive,” his words seemed to trigger something as suddenly the scene changed without warning, without following the predictable path.

They were back in the magic shop, except that it was day and the Buffy that would shelve the book was walking over to the same bookcase that she had been in the living room of the house. “Is she?” the Buffy that was standing beside him asked as she too watched as the other her reached the bookshelf, her hand raising to shelf the book and she paused the pensive look Elijah had noted earlier on her face again.

“What happened here? Why is this moment so important?” he asked glancing down at the petite blond beside him.  
Buffy didn’t tear her eyes off the other her, “It’s not,” she denied as she watched the process begin again.  
Elijah gave her a sceptical look, “There has to be something of significance in this moment. You keep taking me back here,”  
Buffy sighed as she watched herself pause again after shelfing the book, “This was when I quit. It was just for a second,” She explained with shame lacing her voice, “I was in the Magic shop,”  
“I put a book back for Giles,” the other Buffy finally spoke as she stared at the book she had shelved.

“Nothing special about it.” the one beside him spoke again, “And then it hit me,”  
Elijah shifted his stance slightly, “What hit you?” he asked, an urgent tenor barely entering his calm voice.  
“I can’t beat Glory,” the Buffy by the bookshelf spoke again.  
The Buffy beside him tore her gaze from the moment that had her gut in a massive knot of guilt to stare up at her companion, “You seem to know everything else so I take it you know who that is,” she stated more than asked him.  
Elijah nodded, “An exiled hell goddess looking for a way home to reap bloody vengeance on those that betrayed her,”

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, “And the ‘know it all’ award goes to,” she muttered, before turning her gaze back to the scene before them.  
“I could feel it in the very centre of my being. Glory will beat me, and in that one second I wanted it to happen. It was just for a second, but I thought… imagined what a relief it would be if Dawn died. I’d be sad, I’d mourn and people would feel sorry for me, but it would be over. I just wanted it over,”

Buffy fell silent for a moment as she used her crossed arms to hug herself, trying to protect herself from the memory and the guilt, “I killed, Dawn,” she admitted softly.   
“Is that really what you think?” Elijah asked, “That a single moment of weakness caused this to happen,”  
The Buffy by the bookshelf frowned, “Some part of me wanted it. And in the moment Glory took Dawn…”  
“I know I could have done something better,” the Buffy beside Elijah spoke again, “But I didn’t. I was off by some fraction of a second,”  
“And this is why,” the Buffy by the bookcase spoke again.  
“I killed my sister,” the Buffy beside Elijah spoke again.

“But she’s not dead yet is she?” Elijah murmured carefully, seeing his way in, in that moment now that he had the two of them talking, unravelling the reasons why she had lost herself in this endless loop of guilt and blame.  
“But she’s going to be,” both Buffy’s said sadly, “And there’s nothing I can do about it,”  
“What if there was?” Elijah asked, drawing both of the Buffy’s gazes to him once again, “I’m willing to offer you a deal, I’ll help you protect Dawn from Glorificus,”  
Both Buffy’s shifted, turning to face him, with mirroring frowns on their faces, “And what would you want in exchange for this generous helping hand?” the Buffy standing beside him asked dubiously.  
“Merely help in dealing with my own problem,” Elijah replied vaguely.  
Buffy’s frowned deepened at the vagueness of his reply, “And just what would your problem be exactly?”

“The details can come later, all you need to know is that I’m willing to help you for the promise of yours once Glorificus has been taken care of,” Elijah replied.  
Buffy gave him an incredulous look, “So, you want me to agree to pretty much an open ended deal where I help you with an unknown problem in exchange for helping me with defeating Glory. How do I know you even have the power to help out here? Ever battle a hell Goddess before? Or stopped an apocalypse?”

Elijah took a step closer to her, forcing her to tilt her head back to keep eye contact with him, “How about you tell me if I’ll be of any help when you wake up,” he replied before turning and beginning to walk away from her.

Buffy watched him go for a short moment as she chewed on her lower lip, her mind racing. She didn’t like the deal, at least not his end of it. It was too vague to open ended. If she accepted she’d have no idea what she was getting herself into… at least not until he saw fit to go into the details that he said would come later.

Buffy glanced back at the other Buffy as she stood by the bookshelf their eyes meeting. The Buffy by the bookshelf shrugged at her, “What do you want to do?”   
Buffy frowned again, “I-I want to try,” she said her voice growing more determined and steady with each word she spoke.

*O*O*O*

In the magic shop everyone turned to face the sofa chairs as they heard an audible gasp and relief filled them at seeing Buffy move as she shifted on the sofa she was sitting on. And five different versions of her name sounded in the shop as they said her name as if reassuring themselves that she was really awake and alright.

Buffy ignored her friends for the moment as she focused her gaze on the man sitting in front of her. Everything about him looked exactly the same as it had in her dream, right down to the Armani suit he was wearing except for one major difference.  
She could feel him, his presence tingling along her senses with a power she hadn’t felt in anything before and yet it also felt vampiric, confusing her senses as she tried to identify just what he was. She met his eyes and could clearly see the question in them.

‘Well?’

Buffy remained silent for a moment longer as she attempted to weigh up the pros and cons of accepting or telling him to take a hike, like his vague answers made her want to, but saving Dawn outweighed all of that. Dawn’s survival meant more to her than even her own life. She was her little sister, it didn’t matter that it was only due to a magic spell that she was even apart of her life. Dawn was blood and that was all that mattered.

“I accept your deal,” she finally spoke in a firm voice. Elijah nodded, before he could say anything though, Buffy sprang up from the sofa and turned to face her friends, “Let’s get started,”  
“Hang on,” Xander tried to back peddled, “Deal, what deal?”  
“That’s something I’d like to know to, love,” Spike chimed in as he sent a distrustful, but wary look in the powerful vampire’s direction. Worried over just what kind of deal a being; especially a vampiric being as old as Elijah could have for Buffy.  
Buffy frowned at them, “Look, we can discuss that later,” she said firmly, “Right now, we have to save Dawn and we don’t have much time to do it in,”

Elijah sat staring as the petite blond burst into action, not used to being so readily dismissed. The members of her ragtag group falling into line readily enough after a little prodding and direction as they discussed what their best course of action was. He stood and made his own way down the stairs unintentionally distracting the group as everyone, but Buffy turned to look at him.  
“I shall locate the goddess Glorificus,” he informed them and made to move towards the door, only to be stopped by an indignant female voice.  
“Hold it right there,” Buffy demanded bringing Elijah to a stop more out of surprise at being spoken to in such a fashion, then in direct response to the order, “We’re in the middle of plan formulation here. I won’t have you charging in ahead and ruining everything,”

Elijah turned back around and regarded Buffy with a look that wasn’t the happiest, his teeth clenched together.   
A look that had put fear into the hearts of many beings over the years, did nothing, but increase the stubborn look on her face however as she continued to stare him down as if she were the giant and he a petite killable mortal.  
“I wouldn’t antagonise him, love. He’s not your average vampire,” Spike warned softly, not wanting any harm to come to the woman he had come to love and knowing that if push came to shove he would try to protect her and would end up dying in the effort.

“I’m aware of that,” Buffy grumbled, her stance still defiant even as her look softened slightly as she glanced at Spike, touched that he cared, “But we have a deal,” she said turning her gaze back to the still glaring male vampire, “And part of that deal is that he is helping, which means he plays by my rule book and helps out. Not be a one man vigilante that ends up getting us all killed,”  
Elijah remained still for a long moment as he battled his anger at being spoken to in such a way for what had to be the fifth time since entering the little shop. He wasn’t used to being spoken to with anything less than respect and those that did normally didn’t make the mistake again.

His eyes locked with the defiant hazel ones of the woman that had seemed rather broken and torn in her mind and saw none of that in her eyes, only a single minded determination to protect her family and do away with anyone that got in her way; even him.  
“Very well,” he finally spoke, “What would you have of me?” he asked as he stepped towards the group once again, his eyes remaining focused on The Slayer, more sure now that he had been right in seeking out the aid of this Slayer.  
“Right now, I’d have you listen and if you feel like it contribute to the plan. You said you were a good listener so that should be easy, right?” Buffy turned away from him to address Willow, feeling that she had successfully dealt with and delayed any possible disasters. 

“So, what do you think, Will?” she asked, needing the Wiccans approval for what she had in mind to get them there.  
Willow shifted nervously and glanced over at Tara who was interacting with Spike as she plucked rather single-mindedly at his leather jacket sleeve, and was relieved to see that just like on the bus, Spike was gentle and mindful of her rather than impatient and simply allowed her to do what was making her happy. Seeing that her lover was alright, she turned her gaze back to Buffy, “I don’t know,” she admitted sadly, as much as she wanted to save Dawn, she couldn’t lose Tara, “I don’t like the idea of her going in alone,”  
Buffy smiled, “Who said she’ll be alone? She’ll have you, me… all of us backing her up,” she reached out and placed a hand on Willow’s arm, “You get first hit,” she promised.

Willow was silent for a moment, until what Buffy was getting at hit her, “Uh, do you mind, I need to do a little bit more brushing up on a spell,”  
“Go for it,” Buffy encouraged, before turning to the rest of her friends and Elijah to hammer out the other details now that she had approval for the starting swing.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Buffy stood in the back room of the Magic Shop; her training room. Her gaze focused on the large troll hammer as she tried to block everything out, everything but what she had to do. Save Dawn, take down Glory. It should be easy for her to focus, for her to slip into that calm space of certainty where she knew what she had to do and knew that she was going to win, but she was finding it elusive. That annoying nagging shadow of doubt continuing to plague her, however she was determined to not let it get to her.

She was The Slayer and tonight it was more important than ever for her to put all the training she had gone through this past year to use. She just hoped that it was enough. Her hand tightened around the long handle of the hammer. 

It would be. She’d make it! 

Buffy pulled herself out of her thoughts as she heard the door to the back room open. The familiar tingling over her senses telling her exactly who it was entering the training room, long before he spoke.  
“Willow’s finally putting away the books,” Spike said as he walked towards Buffy’s turned back.  
Buffy nodded her spine straightening as she slowly turned to face the peroxide blond vampire, that she now called friend, “Good,”  
Spike blocked her path, “I don’t like this deal you’ve got with Elijah,” he said firmly, his blue eyes reflecting the concern he felt for her.  
Buffy gave him an annoyed look and attempted to brush past him the heavy hammer still in hand, but Spike stepped in her way again.

“At least tell me what it is,” Spike demanded as he attempted to stare the smaller blond down.  
“Not now, Spike,” Buffy said as she moved to brush by him again.  
Spike stepped in the way again, “Yes now, Buffy,” he growled, “I care about The Little Bit to, but this deal you’ve made can’t end well. Do you have any idea of just who or rather what you’ve made a deal with?”  
Buffy laughed, a short sarcastic bark of laughter, “Your looking at me the exact same way they did,” Spike gave her a confused look, “My friend’s when I told them that I’d made a deal with you,”

“That was different,” Spike protested.  
“How?” Buffy asked as she got in his face, her hazel eyes challenging him, “Oh, right. You’d already tried to kill me multiple times and Elijah hasn’t,” she grumbled as she pushed past him.  
“Yet!” Spike called after her, feeling defeated as he watched her walk away from him… just like she always did. Like every woman he’d ever loved had.

Spike sighed as he started following her out of the back room. What was it with bloody women and making his life a constant string of never ending misery?

*O*O*O*

Dawn sat on the couch of the basement of a building she didn’t know where. The dress she’d been told to put on, felt uncomfortably tight and scratchy despite being made of fine cotton. Her legs were tucked up under her body as she waited. She felt the need to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. She was terrified and she couldn’t even cry. All she could do was sit, and wait, and hope. Hope that Buffy would come soon, that Buffy would kick down the door and save her. She would even appreciate one of Buffy’s annoying lectures right about now.

She’ll come, she’ll come. She has to come. She will, she always comes. Dawn thought trying to assure herself. But why is it taking so long… maybe she won’t.

Dawn wrapped her arms about herself tightly, a sudden deep chill settling in her bones at the very thought of being left here to die. She heard a noise on the stairs and her chill grew as she heard the door opening and heeled feet coming down the stairs, letting her know who it was before she started to talk. 

“Oh, Dawnie,” Glory sing-songed as she practically danced the steps, “It’s time to go home and be free of our accursed mortal sacks of meat,”   
Dawn swallowed, she wanted to run, but couldn’t get her body to move, no matter how loud her brain screamed at her legs to obey. So, instead Glory yanked her up and dragged her stumbling along for a few steps before her legs started working properly; even if they did feel like stumps of led.

*O*O*O*

Buffy stood waiting just out of sight, the only person beside her was the tall mysterious vampire that she knew next to nothing about. The others having splayed out to fulfil their own roles in the probably reckless plan that they had formulated after what had felt like endless back and forth as they fleshed out the limited information the occult books The Council had left in her care upon taking their rather reluctant leave. 

Elijah stared at the small girl who was concentrating on Tara and Willow who had both moved on ahead, Willow lagging behind as they waited for the Goddess herself to appear or she was found. His eyes took in the tension in her body, her posture screaming the need to leap into action and yet she was almost completely still as she waited for her prey to appear.  
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to wield that thing properly?” he asked breaking the silence between them, “It’s practically half your size,”  
Buffy barely spared him the briefest of glances, “Aim and swing, I could do that in my sleep. All I need is a target to swing at,”

“It seems that your target is about to make her appearance,” Elijah said his sensitive ears and senses picking up on the chaos bent hell goddess as she strode from the darkness, apparently from the crudely made iron tower. He lifted his gaze and his eyes narrowed as he saw a small figure at the top, a girl from what he could see of her diminutive figure.  
His gaze narrowed further as he took in the fact that she wasn’t alone as she stood closest to the edge, unmoving as another figure approached.  
“Your sister, I presume,” he murmured managing to draw Buffy’s full attention away from what was going on between her friends and the not too happy hell goddess.

Buffy followed his gaze up the tower and her heart froze in her chest as she recognised her sister, “Dawn,” she murmured and immediately took a step in the direction of the tower, but a familiar scream rent the air forcing her attention back to Willow in time to see her, Tara and Glory get flung in different directions by the magicks Willow had caste in an attempt to restore her lovers mind. Buffy bit her lower lip torn as her gaze darted back and forth between her sister and her best friend as Glory stumbled up to her feet yelling about something being taken from her, before beginning to make her way towards Willow who had taken the precious few moments the recoil of the magic had given her to manoeuvre her way over to Tara in a joyful reunion.

And all she could do is stare from one to the other torn, the need to save both raging inside of her. Her gaze quickly darted to Spike to see him occupied with a fair few of the poor people that had fallen victim to Glory’s insanity and under her spell.

“I can go to her, if you wish?” Elijah offered as he stepped up to stand beside her. His dark gaze focusing on the innocent so unfairly put in harms way for the selfish desire of another.  
Buffy’s gaze darted to him, her mind raced and her pulse hammered loudly in her ears. She’d specifically told him what his role would be tonight, he would make sure no one tried to sneak in behind her to get in a lucky shot whilst she put her all into taking down the bitch that was trying to steal the last family she had. She hadn’t wanted the unknown powerful vampire that spun her senses into a spin of confusion over what he really was anywhere near Dawn. She didn’t trust him with her sister!

“Or I could save your Witch friend and her lover,” Elijah continued into the tension thick air as Buffy struggled with her choice as Glory got closer to her friends and Dawn was left alone with two people that probably meant to kill her to get the blood that would open the dimensional portal, that would blend the world with all the hell dimensions linked closely to their world, “But I can get up that tower quicker than you,” he observed with more calm than Buffy liked when she was frantic and wanted nothing more than to split herself in two so that she could save both.

Buffy tore her gaze from her choice to focus her gaze on the vampire, her hazel eyes flashing fire at him, “Save Dawn,” she demanded, before she turned away from him completely, silently swearing to kill him if he harmed her little sister.  
Elijah recognised the look in The Slayer’s eyes, the promise of retribution if he failed or betrayed her in anyway.   
Elijah turned away from the swiftly moving Slayer as she placed herself between her friends and the advancing goddess, his own feet moving over the ground in a blur of movement; ignoring the irate snarl of the young vampire that was still trying to detach himself from the humans that were making it difficult for him to continue on his own way to the tower.

Elijah’s hand closed around the side of the iron ladder and he began his ascent to the top and the innocent he needed to save in order to procure the help of The Slayer.

*O*O*O*

Buffy swung the hammer, the first hit feeling good as the blunt thick end made contact with Glory’s body, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of satisfaction she got at seeing the blond goddess stumble as she fought to keep her balance.  
For the briefest of moments she glanced back at the staring Willow and Tara and offered them the smallest of smiles, “You’ve done your part, it’s time for you guys to get to a safe distance,”

Willow nodded immediately and clambered to her feet, before swiftly turning for Tara and taking her hand, “Come on, let’s get out of here,” she urged.  
Tara smiled, her eyes clear for the first time in far too long as she stared up at her love and nodded.

Buffy didn’t wait to see if Willow was doing what she had been told, not wanting to give Glory the chance to get the jump on her whilst she was distracted.  
Glory spit out a bit of blond as she righted herself, her gaze angry as she stared at The Slayer that just didn’t know when to quit, “Is that all you’ve got?”  
Buffy tilted her head slightly to the side, “Not even close!” she replied, before swinging the hammer again with all the force she could muster.

*O*O*O*

Elijah quickly made it to the top of the high tower, his arrival startling the small, oozy skinned demon that was standing on the platform closest to the ladder.  
“Y-You’re not supposed to be up here,” the minion said with a scowl.  
Elijah didn’t bother to exchange a single word, before he pushed the small demon, with a movement the demon had been to slow to catch. His eyes landed on the skinny white haired demon that was standing in front of the little sister, his slightly nasally voice reaching his ears as the smell of the girls fear did.

Quickly covering the distance of the platform that had been erected with haste, he placed a hand to the demons chin and the other to the side of his head and with a quick movement snapped his neck before letting the now dead demon fall from the great height. His eyes focusing on the terrified girl that was staring up at him with wide tear filled eyes.

“Who are you? And what do you want?” Dawn asked stoutly, determined to try to be brave like Buffy would want her to be until she managed to get her ass up here. Which when she did, Dawn planned to have a good talk to her about her timing skills.  
“I’m Elijah,” he responded as he took a slow step towards her, “Buffy sent me,” Elijah informed the girl, before reaching out and snapping the rope that bound her to the rickety structure.

Dawn stared at him for a moment, hardly daring to believe it, before she frowned, “Buffy did? Why didn’t she come up here herself?” she asked dubiously.  
Elijah glanced down to where he knew Buffy was fighting the hell goddess, “She’s a little preoccupied at the moment,”  
Dawn followed his gaze the best she could, her mortal vision not letting her see to clearly in the darkness, but she saw what appeared to be two moving shapes one clearly wailing on the other and she hoped… no she knew that it was Buffy.

“Little Bit!” she heard a familiar voice call and she lifted her gaze, a smile curling up her lips and she hurried past the stranger that had saved her and moved as swiftly as her shaky legs would carry her to her closest friend and secret crush as he stood on a still metal part of the built platform by the ladder that led down from the great height and buried her face into his chest, glad for the feeling of safety Spike provided, a feeling that grew as his arms descended around her in a hug that was bruising, but she didn’t fuss to happy to be safe to want to ruin it so soon.

*O*O*O*

“Stop it!” Glory shouted closed to tears as she struggled back onto her feet.  
“You’re a God,” Buffy stated coldly as she swung the hammer again in a powerful arch that knocked Glory back down to the ground, “Make it stop,” she challenged as she stepped closer and brought the hammer up and then down as powerfully as she could. All she could think about was Dawn up on that tower, terrified out of her mind and what Glory had planned for her as she continued to bring down the hammer with everything she had.

She was brought out of her violent haze as Glory’s bloodied and battered form shifted before her very eyes; morphing into Ben, the cute attending that she had flirted with once or twice. And she stopped hitting as she stared down at him.  
“I’m sorry,” Ben coughed out weakly as he stared up at Buffy, “Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded.  
Buffy remained silent for an extended moment, her hand trembling around the handle of the large troll hammer as she warred between what she knew was right and her desire for vengeance against the woman who’d tried to kill her little sister.

Buffy slowly opened her mouth to give her reply when there was a whoosh of air that disturbed her hair and then Elijah was standing beside the beaten down form of Ben. And in a movement that she could see all too clearly despite the speed in which he executed the movement, ripped his heart out of his chest as if the chest cavity was no more than a soft jello.   
Buffy raised her gaze up to Elijah’s face as he dropped the heart to the ground, “I was about to spare him,” she informed him as she slowly shifted her grip on the hammer allowing the head of it to rest against the asphalt.

Elijah shrugged as he reached his clean hand into the front pocket of his suit and pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief and began wiping clean his hand, “I promised that I would help you save your sister, and by killing Glorficus I have succeeded in doing so,” Elijah glanced down at the body of the young man that had been unfortunate enough to be saddled with the cast down goddess, “Whatever terms you may have offered him for his life. Do you really think your little sister would have been safe whilst she was still free to wander the earth as she chose?” 

Buffy looked down at the body and felt sad for the life that Ben had stolen from him, probably right from birth, but the logical part of her accepted Elijah’s words as true. Dawn would never have been safe, not with Glory still alive. Buffy looked back up at the vampire, her brow furrowing deeply and her eyes narrowing on him. Her hand tightened around the hammer, preparing to use it, “Where is Dawn?”  
“With your ‘charming’ vampire friend,” Elijah replied with a nod in the direction of the tower where Spike was gently coaxing the still shaken up Dawn down the long ladder.

Buffy turned her gaze to the tower, her hand dropping the hammer as she hurried over to the base of tower to wait for Dawn to reach the ground. Each moment it took for Dawn to reach the ground felt far longer than it really was to Buffy as she fought the urge to pace.

Dawn’s feet had hard barely touched the ground when she was spun and enfolded in the slender familiar arms of her sister.  
Dawn returned the hug glad to still be alive, that Buffy had indeed come and saved her. After a moment though she winced and attempted to pull back a little from her sister’s strong embrace, “Uh, ouch, Buffy, I kinda still need to breath,”

“Oh, sorry!” Buffy apologised as she reluctantly released her sister, her hands running down Dawn’s arms as she hesitated to break the contact as if unsure if she was dreaming that everything was over and that surprisingly enough everyone had survived.  
Dawn gave Buffy as big of a smile as she could manage under the circumstances. Her eyes went past Buffy to the man in the suit that had been up on the tower with her and had saved her life as he stood a short distance away his hands in his pockets, his eyes on them, or rather her sister.  
“Buffy, who’s that guy?” she asked with a small frown. She was fairly certain that she had never seen him before, unless that monks had just forgot to put him in her magically altered memories.

Buffy glanced back over her shoulder at Elijah and sighed, she knew that she had to inform the others of the deal she had struck and hopefully get the full details herself, but she knew that Dawn wouldn’t be happy. None of them would be, but Dawn would take it the hardest…  
“Uh, let’s get you home before we get into that,” she suggested as she wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders and began guiding her away from the creepy tower. 

*O*O*O*

Elijah stared out the window, his keen ears picking up the sounds of The Slayer’s friends as they talked amongst themselves. The conversation really none of his business, his mind ticking over the battle or rather what he had seen of The Slayer’s fight with the Hell Goddess. It had been raw in its brutality, but not undisciplined she’d stopped when she had needed to stop for her mortal sensibilities. It had been more than he had been expecting… 

Elijah flinched slightly as a high pitched shriek thundered through the room, drawing his full attention to the conversation that was taking place behind him.

“What?!” Dawn shrieked, making everyone sitting in the living room flinch at the shrillness of it. “Just like that you’re leaving me!”  
Buffy took a breath, she knew that Dawn wouldn’t take the news very well, “No, well, I am leaving for a little while, but not because I want to leave you,” Buffy attempted to sooth as she reached out to touch her little sisters hand.  
Dawn yanked her hand away from Buffy’s touch, her lips quivering as she stared at her sister accusingly. She’d only just got back and after everything she had been through and Buffy wanted to leave not even an hour after she had been brought back home.

“Where, and for how long?” Dawn demanded to know as she stood from the couch she had been sitting on beside Buffy, her arms crossing over her chest, not caring that every eye on the room was on her whilst she was in the middle of her righteous indignation.  
Buffy hesitated once again, she couldn’t answer either question, her gaze flicked to Elijah who was staring out the window apparently happy to ignore what was happening in the room.   
“I don’t really know, Dawnie. You’d have to ask him,” Buffy gestured in Elijah’s direction.

Giles who had been about to adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose, pulled them off instead as he gave the woman he considered a daughter a sharp look, “You made a deal without knowing the details?!” he spluttered not quite sure that he could believe the bright woman he knew would do such a thing.  
Buffy returned Giles look steadily, “It was either that or risk losing Dawn,” she retorted, her steady gaze daring Giles to even try to say that she had made the wrong choice.  
Giles sighed and lowered his gaze, rubbing at his eyes tiredly, “You do realize that this deal you’ve made leaves the hell mouth completely unguarded,” he said as he raised his blue gaze back to Buffy.

“Well, I was thinking that we could call in Faith to protect it whilst I’m gone,” Buffy suggested.  
Xander choked on his own saliva at the name that could still make his eye twitch, “Faith, as in the psychotic, evil, body snatcher, in prison, Faith?” he asked nervously, his eyes flicking about the room.  
“Yeah, Xand, I hear she goes by Redeeming Herself, Faith now,” Buffy quipped.  
“Well, despite my obvious objections, aren’t you forgetting the part where she’s doing the time for the crime,” Xander quipped.  
“That’s where The Council steps in,” Buffy said angling herself towards Giles, “I figure they’ll be able to use their considerable pull to pull the strings needed to get her an early release,”

Giles frowned, “I might have trouble selling them on the idea of releasing a rogue Slayer back into the community,”  
Buffy shrugged and started taking steps towards the wall phone, “Ok, I guess I’ll just call Angel, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on things whilst I’m gone,”  
“Giles,” Xander rushed out as he sat up straighter in his chair, “You’ll be able to twist The Council’s arm, right?”  
Giles sighed again and put his glasses back on, “I’ll make the call,” he murmured somewhat reluctantly, but he’d much prefer to deal with the troubled Slayer than have to deal with the dark brooding vampire for an unknown length of time.

Dawn tired of not getting answered turned her gaze to the vampire that was still staring out the window as if completely unfazed by the conversation going on about him, “Where are you taking my sister and for how long?!” Dawn demanded to know of him, her indignant frown still furrowing her brow.  
Elijah turned from his musings to face the irate girl who was scowling at him as if that alone was supposed to brow beat him into answering her.  
“Mystic Falls,” Elijah finally deigned to answer her, “As for how long, I cannot say,” his gaze shifted from the youngest Summers to the eldest one, “We need to get going, there is a fair distance to travel,” he stated.

Dawn looked from Elijah to Buffy and stomped her foot in a childish manner before turning and hurrying out of the room, her feet stomping noisily up the stairs.  
Buffy stood, “Just give me a moment,” she muttered, not bothering to wait and see if Elijah gave his consent or not to the further delay; which he did as he inclined his head to the quickly retreating form of the petite blond. 

*O*O*O*

Buffy knocked on the closed door of her little sister’s room, “Dawnie,” she called softly.  
“Just go away already!” Dawn shouted back from her position sprawled out on her bed on her tummy; tears of frustration and loneliness falling silently down her cheeks.  
Buffy hesitated a moment, before slowly pushing open the door, her heart constricting in her chest as she saw Dawn hugging her pillow, her shoulders shaking from the sobs she was keeping quiet, “Dawnie,” she murmured sadly as she stepped into the room and made her way over to the bed; sitting down on the edge of it by her sister, “You know that if I had any other choice I’d want to stay here with you right?” Buffy assured her little sister.

For a moment Dawn didn’t react, but then she slowly sat up and turned so that she could face Buffy, “Then, maybe… you could take me with you?” she said a hopefully.  
“There’s nothing I’d love more,” Buffy murmured sadly, “But where I’m going, it’ll be dangerous, Dawnie and there’s only going to be me there and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you because I couldn’t protect you,”  
“So, you’re just going to abandon me over some promise to a guy you don’t even know?!” she grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest once again, determined to remain upset and wronged.

“I’m not abandoning you, Dawnie. I’m protecting you like I have from the moment I was Called at 15,” Buffy replied, “Besides you’ve got a life here, Dawn. What kind of sister would I be if I up routed you and placed you in the middle of a powerful vampire’s problem? Hmmm?” Dawn remained silent, “You’ve got Willow, Tara, Xander and Spike here to look after you and protect you, and all your school friends…”

Buffy trailed off as her sister remained stubbornly silent, “You’re determined to hate me over this aren’t you?” she murmured softly, her tone sad rather than accusing. Once again Dawn remained silent and Buffy nodded as she slowly got to her feet, “Ok,” she took a step towards the door before looking back at Dawn who refused to look at her, “You do realize that this could be the last time we see each other in months, right?”  
Dawn finally raised her gaze to meet Buffy’s, “Good! Who’d want to have to look at your face every day anyway,” she said spitefully, before going back to staring at her blankets.

Buffy nodded and turned away again, making it all the way to the door, before turning to look at her sister again, “No matter what, I still love you and I’ll see you when I get back,” Buffy stepped out of the room and shut the door quietly behind her. Once she heard the latch click home she took a steadying breath.

“She didn’t really mean it,” Spike said from where he stood a little way down the hall, having followed Buffy up the stairs, “In a couple of days she’ll be crying over how much of a brat she was to you,”  
“I know that,” Buffy replied as she walked towards him, “Or I think I know that,” she muttered with a frown as she reached the peroxide vampire, “I’ll give contact details to Will once I get settled,” Buffy informed Spike as she skirted about the issue she really wanted to bring up as she pondered how to word it.

“Before I leave,” She finally began, “Will you promise me something?” she asked.  
“Anything,” Spike agreed without hesitation.  
Buffy glanced back at Dawn’s door, before returning her gaze to Spike, “Look out for Dawn, she likes you and she listens to you… more than she does to me anyway,”  
Spike nodded much to Buffy’s relief, “I’ll keep an eye out for the Little Bit,” Spike reached out and touched Buffy’s arm gently; his arm hesitating in the air Spike having desired to touch her cheek instead but decided against it, “You look out for yourself, don’t let that old bugger get you killed over his problem,”  
Buffy’s lips curved up in a wiry smile, “If there’s one thing I’m really good at, it’s surviving,” she moved past Spike to the stairs, she needed to say her goodbye’s before she was whisked off to Mystic Falls and whatever trouble lurked there.

*O*O*O*

Buffy slid herself into the passenger side of the car that had been parked a block away from the entrance of the Magic Shop. She pulled the door closed and glanced at driver’s seat to see Elijah already fully situated his hand on the ignition.  
“So, are you going to fill me in on the details on my part of this deal of ours?” Buffy asked as she buckled her seatbelt and the engine purred to life.  
Elijah glanced over at her, before settling his eyes back on the road as he pulled away from the curb, “It’s a long story,” he warned as he began driving down the road.  
“It’s a long drive to Virginia,” Buffy replied with a shrug and an expectant look, more than ready to know just what she had gotten herself into in return for Dawn’s life.

A/N: Ok, that it for this chapter. Hopefully it won’t take me to long to get the next chapter up for your enjoyment. I hope that your holidays are going well.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

“So, feel free to start talking anytime now,” Buffy stated as they drove past the ‘You Are Leaving Sunnydale’ sign.  
Elijah glanced over at the petite blond Slayer that was sitting beside him, her hazel gaze still wary as she met his darker one with expectant curiosity.  
“You could start with what exactly it you need from me?” Buffy suggested as he remained silent.  
Elijah turned his gaze back to the road and gave a small nod of acceptance at her request, “I need your help killing a man,”

Buffy raised an eyebrow, “This must be some man, if a guy as strong as you needs help killing him,” she murmured as she shifted slightly against the leather seat, trying to get a little more comfortable for the long drive.  
Elijah glanced over at her briefly once again before nodding shortly, “His name is Klaus and he is as old as I am,”  
“Which would make him an Original like you, right?” Buffy questioned.

Elijah remained silent for a moment as he weighed his response to her question, wondering if it was wise to let her know that. As he quickly turned it over in his mind he could feel her gaze resting on him waiting for him to answer her question, “Yes, he is an Original vampire,” he finally spoke.  
“So, what’s this Klaus’ deal?” Buffy asked, “Is he looking to bring about the next apocalypse or is he cause a little or a lot of mischief and then get the hell out of town type or maybe a schemer?” 

Elijah frowned, his hands tightening about the steering wheel slightly as he deliberately kept his face stoic, not wanting to reveal any of the turbulent emotions centred around the betrayal of the brother he had once loved dearly, “He’s a paranoid, power hungry type,” he finally replied calmly, “He wants to break a curse and he won’t care how many people he has to kill to do it,”  
Buffy frowned and turned her gaze out to the scenery that was swiftly passing by the swiftly moving car as she observed the information, “What did this Klaus guy do to make you want to kill him?” she asked after a long moment of extended silence. 

Elijah glanced over at her again as he once again pondered what he should tell her. His hands tightened around the steering wheel again, “He killed my entire family?” he responded decided that it couldn’t do any harm for her to know that much at the very least.  
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Buffy murmured softly and shifted uncomfortably in the seat, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose your entire family.

As the silence stretched between them, Buffy frowned as a thought took her and she glanced over at the vampire once again curiously. If he is an Original vampire and this Klaus guy is an Original vampire and wouldn’t that mean that Elijah’s family are Original vampires too? Does that make Klaus a relative?

“Uh,” Buffy broke the silence after another long moment of contemplation, not wanting to pry into an area that probably a very touchy subject for him, but every Slayer instinct in her was telling her that it was necessary, information was the only way to survive when you knew nothing about a situation and she’d never dealt with an Original vampire let alone any of this separate species of vampire that she was only just finding out about. And from what she had seen they were completely different to the vampires she was used to dealing with on a nightly basis, “So how does one become an Original vampire?” Buffy asked her voice hesitant.

Her question was met with silence, but she noticed a subtle shift in his demeanour as he flicked on the indicator and shifted into another lane to take an exit. Buffy frowned, a nagging suspicious feeling suddenly hitting her that he wasn’t planning on being entirely upfront about everything that was going on. Something that didn’t sit well with her at all, how was she supposed to go in with all the confidence she needed to get through this alive if she didn’t have all the facts laid out before her?

“I know it has something to do with magic,” Buffy prodded, and narrowed her gaze when Elijah made no sign of having heard her, let alone willing to answer her.  
“There is something else you need to know,” Elijah broke his silence, hoping to distract her from her current line of questioning. There was a long drive ahead of them and he really didn’t fancy it being filled with hostility.   
Buffy’s suspicious gaze lightened in its intensity, not wanting to miss something important.  
“In order to break the curse, Klaus needs to sacrifice certain people,” Buffy nodded in understanding, not at all surprised by that fact, “A werewolf, a vampire, a witch and the blood of the doppelganger,”

“Doppelganger?” Buffy repeated curiously, remembering the one experience she’d had with a doppelganger when Willow and Anya had accidentally pulled a vampiric version of her red headed friend from an alternate reality.  
Elijah nodded in confirmation, “Her name is Elena Gilbert. She’s a high school student at Mystic Falls,”  
Buffy’s frown returned as a sinking sensation hit her, “Wait you can’t possibly mean,” she began.  
Elijah glanced over at her again, a small amused smile touching the corners of his lips at the wide eyed look she was giving him, “You will be keeping an eye on Miss Gilbert for me,”

“Hang on, I thought you wanted help killing this Klaus guy,” Buffy exclaimed, “I’m seriously not equipped to babysit a teenager I know nothing about. I mean you saw what a mess I was making of things with Dawn,”  
“I do,” Elijah answered the first part of her complaint and ignored the rest, “And a good part of the success of killing Klaus will depend upon what happens to Elena. I need you to make sure that she keeps out of trouble and doesn’t do anything stupid,”

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest still not happy about it at all as she stared at Elijah. She was an ass kicker not a babysitter! She sighed and brushed a hand through her long blond hair, “So I take this to mean that Klaus isn’t in Mystic Falls yet?” she queried.  
Elijah nodded, “That’s correct as far as I know he doesn’t yet know that the doppelganger has been found and I’m hoping to keep it that was for as long as possible so that I can manoeuvre the last of my plans into place,”

“And those would be?” Buffy asked.  
“Don’t worry about that for now, I need you to concentrate on,”  
“Babysitting Elena Gilbert,” Buffy muttered cutting Elijah off with no small amount of annoyance.  
“Exactly,” Elijah agreed and they lapsed into silence as Buffy turned her gaze out the window.

The frown still marring her brow as she worried her lower lip, this venture was already turning out completely different then she had been expecting. And she still had that nagging suspicion that Elijah wasn’t being completely honest with her about something.

*O*O*O*

Elijah listened to the radio, the volume on low so as to not to disturb the sleeping woman in the passenger seat beside him. He glanced over at her as she shifted against the leather in her sleep, her head turning towards him as she curled her legs up onto the seat. He returned his gaze to the road, his thoughts drifting to the genuine surprise he had felt when he’d first seen Elena in that run down house that Rose and Trevor had holed themselves up in for their attempt at negotiation.   
He hadn’t thought it could be possible for another doppelganger to come into existence, but it seemed that Katherina had been more like Tatia than he had realized. 

It presented an opportunity that he couldn’t let escape him. It was quite possibly the only real chance he had of ever being able to reap vengeance on his brother for the senseless murder of their family. The murder of his brothers and sister was the only act in the world that he would never be able to forgive his brother for committing. It was an act he hadn’t thought Klaus capable of, for all of his younger brother’s faults he loved his family or he had.

Elijah’s hands tightened around the wheel again, before he forced himself to relax, catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he had to move quickly to keep Buffy from falling against his shoulder. His hand cupped her head feeling the silky softness of her warm hair against his fingers as he carefully pushed her back into an upright position. 

His eyes drifting from the road to her as he carefully settled her sleeping form against the back of her chair once again. When he was certain that Buffy’s sleeping form was safely settled back against the seat. Returning his full attention back to the road, he rubbed his hand over the steering wheel to remove the sensation the feel of her soft hair had left on his skin. 

Making another turn the sign ‘Welcome to Mystic Falls’ came into view and he almost sighed in relief after so many hours of driving he needed to get out and stretch his limbs out.

*O*O*O*

Buffy jerked awake with a gasp as she felt a strong arm shake her shoulder and she blinked and rubbed at her eyes whilst she gathered herself after her long nap in the car. She was surprised and shocked at having fallen into such a deep sleep with a vampire that she didn’t know in the driver’s seat. A vampire that she was almost certain was keeping something important from her.

“Where are we?” she asked as she sat up a little higher in the chair, determined not to show how discomforted she was at having left herself so vulnerable to the powerful vampire. She was used to being more cautious around those she didn’t know. Elijah was an unknown danger, no matter how honourable he seemed on the surface, she should never have felt safe or comfortable enough to fall into anything but a light sleep with Elijah right beside her!

“My home and yours whilst we are in Mystic Falls,” Elijah replied as he looked up at the small house that was a little out of the way of the main town whilst he opened his door and stepped out onto the drive way.  
Buffy followed suite her wits returning to her as she frowned at the rather quaint looking house Elijah had pulled up in front of whilst she’d been so peacefully sleeping, “Wait you mean the both of us together… in one house?” she said dubiously.

“It may look small, but there’s plenty of space,” Elijah assured her as he moved around the back of car, popping the boot with a click of a button.  
Buffy followed him round the car, “That wasn’t really the point I was making,” she countered, “I don’t know you well enough to share a house with you,” she explained as she reached in to grab the bag she had packed only for Elijah to beat her to it.  
Elijah glanced down at her as he shut the boot, “I thought that you understood that I mean you no harm. You’ll be quiet safe under my roof,” he assured her.

“That’s probably true,” Buffy allowed, “But there’s this one problem. I have a hard time trusting people who don’t trust me,” she stated as she met Elijah’s gaze levelly.  
“Excuse me?” Elijah replied, her bag slung effortlessly over his shoulder despite how heavy it had to be with everything that she had managed to fit inside it.  
“Oh, you thought I didn’t notice?” Buffy murmured as she took a step towards him, invading his personal space as she tilted her head back to be able to keep meeting his slightly narrowed gaze.

“I may be blond, Elijah, but I am by no means stupid. I can tell when someone is keeping things from me,” Elijah opened his mouth to speak, but Buffy beat him to it, “You may have your reasons, but I prefer living in a better environment. One that’s not going to keep me on edge every moment, I get that enough when I leave the house,”

Elijah met her gaze for a long moment, noting the stubborn tilt to her jaw and the determination in her eyes, before nodding not seeing the need to fight her on something so small. It would be easy enough to find her somewhere else to live if that was what she preferred, “Fine, but it is a bit late to go looking now,”  
Buffy shrugged, “That’s fine. I probably won’t spend much time here tonight anyway. I want to get a feel for the town,”

“That’s probably not a good idea,” Elijah called after Buffy as she turned to walk back down the drive he had just driven up, making her pause in her tracks.  
“Why not?” Buffy asked as she turned back to look at him, her hazel gaze once again suspicious as she stared at him her hands on her hips.  
“You’ve got an early start tomorrow,” Elijah stated with a shrug.  
Buffy dropped her hands from her hips, her suspicious expression turning to one of surprise, “I do?”  
“You’ve got your first day as the high school Councillor,” Elijah informed her, before turning and walking into the house, taking her bag inside with him.

Buffy gaped after him in her shock, “I don’t have the necessary skills or qualifications to guide teenagers through their problems!” she shouted at Elijah’s back, her nostrils flaring in her growing anger.  
“I’m sure your experience as, The Slayer will more than make up for your lack of qualifications,” Elijah replied self-assuredly.  
Buffy scowled at Elijah’s still retreating back, “Slayerness prepares you for kicking Big Bad ass not counselling kids!”  
Elijah shrugged and glanced back over his shoulder at her as he finally paused by the front door, “Then I’m sure you’ll muddle through,” he said before unlocking the door and stepping inside, leaving it open for her.

Buffy huffed as she scowled at the now empty doorway, “High handed arrogant vampire,” she grumbled under her breath and kicked at the dirt driveway, “Now I really need to hit something,” she groused, before slowly making her way towards the house, not seeing any other choice if she wanted to be able to deal with her first day as a student councillor at the local high school.

Think of it this way. You’ll at least have a way to pay the bills when you find your own place. Buffy attempted to sooth her prickled nerves and calm her raging desire to hit something, or someone.

*O*O*O*

Buffy lay on the bed in the room Elijah had said was hers for what she hoped would only be a brief stay in this house with vampire that was probably up somewhere in the house still doing whatever it was he was doing. If she listened hard enough she swore that she could hear the occasional footstep. 

Buffy shifted under the covers trying to get into a position that was comfortable enough for her to fall asleep in, but after her nap in the car it seemed like her body wasn’t willing to cooperate with even a light sleep. She sighed and lifted the covers higher up on her shoulders, snuggling deeper under the covers. After a moment of waiting and finding herself still no closer to success she opened her eyes and quietly slipped out of the bed the blue pyjama short-shorts she wore to bed and the white singlet pyjama top illuminated slightly by the moonlight pooling in from the small gap between the drawn blinds. 

Walking over to them she drew them open and looked out over the unfamiliar landscape of Mystic Falls and sighed as she realized that it had only been over a day and a half of travelling by car and already she was missing her friends and family, her familiar room and bed. And she couldn’t help but wonder just how long this mission would take, if Elijah was right, then Klaus wasn’t even in Mystic Falls yet, who knew when she’d be able to go home and see those who mattered the most to her.

They’ll all be fine. Faith will look after them. She will prevent anything horrible from happening whilst I’m gone. She silently assured herself from all accounts Faith had made great progress since entering the prison system. It just felt so odd, being somewhere else after so long, the Hellmouth had been her sole duty for so long it felt odd being away from it, even though she knew that it wouldn’t be forever. That after this mission was over she would be right back on the Hellmouth, and hating the fact that she would never be truly free of it.

Perhaps I should be a little more happier about this… I’m finally off the Hellmouth for a little while.

She looked out her window at the unfamiliar landscape for a moment longer, before she drew the curtains closed and walked quietly back over to her bed and slipped back under the unfamiliar covers, wiggling around until she was comfortable Buffy closed her eyes again and once again tried to will sleep to claim her.

*O*O*O*

Buffy stood in front of the high school she was supposed to be employed at, feeling exactly the same way she did on her first day at Sunnydale High… completely lost! She had no idea where she was supposed to go or even what she was supposed to do. Where did one go on their first day of school when they weren’t a student?

She watched as the students walked by her, not paying her any mind at all, like she wasn’t even there and she supposed to them she wasn’t. She was just some stranger none of them had ever seen before and she was far too old to be a student, so why should they notice her? 

Buffy looked from left to right wondering which direction she should take to get to where she needed to be.   
“Hi, are you alright?” A male voice asked, making Buffy turn with relief as she faced the tall man that had stopped to help her, “You look lost,”  
“Uh, that would be because I am,” Buffy admitted with a self-conscious smile.

“You’d be the new school councillor, right?” Alaric guessed with a friendly smile on his face.  
“Yep, that’s me,” Buffy agreed nervously, “Or at least I’m going to try to be,” she tacked on with an awkward, slightly intimidated look on her face as she looked up at the school that seemed to have a lot more students than she ever remembered a school having, “I didn’t realize how big this school was when I, uh, when I took the job,”

I’m going to kill Elijah! She thought as she bit her lower lip.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. They are a great group of kids really,” Alaric shifted the folder he had in his arms and held a hand out to her, “I’m Alaric Saltzman, history teacher,” he introduced himself.  
Buffy took his hand, “Buffy Summers, well you already know what I’m going to be doing,”  
“I’ll show you where you have to go to get set up,” Alaric offered.  
“Oh thanks, I wouldn’t have had a clue otherwise,” Buffy said gratefully as she fell into step with Alaric, who she wasn’t afraid to admit she would have loved to have as a teacher in high school. The eye candy alone would have made it worthwhile to come his class. 

Where were all the hot teachers when she’d been in high school? They were probably all smart enough not to get a job at Sunnydale high. She thought with minimal amusement.

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last couple. I shall try to get another update out for your enjoyment soon


End file.
